By Elizabeth Van Pilsum, Arts and Culture Editor
Originally Published October 3, 2023
Saint Vincent College (SVC) is coming to television. The College Tour, an award-winning TV series, filmed on SVC’s campus this semester with the goal of providing prospective students with the insider’s perspective on the school. Alex Boylan, Emmy-nominated producer, is the show’s host, and the 30-minute SVC episode features several students who talk about their own experiences with the college.
SVC on The College Tour will highlight the following students: Diana Mosten, junior International Business major; Isaiah McElroy, C'23, former communication major; Rachel Andreola, senior mathematics major; Marta Trembetska, sophomore marketing major; Desonio Powell, C'23, former communication major; Elizabeth Dacanay, sophomore biochemistry major; David Rahaman, senior English education major; Domonic Oto, senior theology major; Stacie Ramos, junior marketing and digital art and media double major; and David Collins, senior English major.
Students were provided with the opportunity to audition to be on the show. Those who were selected found out in July and had the rest of the summer to prepare for filming. Some, however, like Ramos, were recommended to be on the show by others. Ramos was recommended by Jim Berger, Director of Athletic Communications, and Sue Hozak, women’s volleyball coach.
“I agreed to be on the show during summer break, a few weeks before school started,” Ramos said. “Filming began during the first week of school. Since I was late to the preparation process, I was pretty stressed out during my preseason trying to memorize my script.”
Students wrote the initial draft of their scripts based on a prompt they were given, and then the drafts were edited and polished by staff of The College Tour.
Collins was given the word ‘opportunity’ as a prompt, so he discussed the chances students on campus get to realize their interests. “I was happy to have a good deal of freedom when it came to curating my part of the script, but there was certainly some stress in memorizing it all,” Collins said. “I had a bunch of help and support from everyone involved that made my part super easy.”
Filming occurred throughout the first week of classes and took each student roughly two hours to complete. “I would say the most difficult part was filming the introduction part of my script since I was pretty nervous,” Ramos said. “I had my lines memorized but I couldn’t speak clearly so I ended up circling back to it at the end of the script session and getting it perfect.”
Collins agreed with Ramos and felt the process was worth it all throughout.
“There was a lot of preparation that went into it, but once the camera was rolling it was a really quick and efficient process,” Collins said. “We started with some scenes of talking through scripted material and then moved on to B-roll [(or alternative)] shots around the campus, interacting with other students and some faculty.”
Ramos, a volleyball player, was filmed for the athletic portion of the show. She filmed outside of Saint Benedict Hall for the scripted section and shot B-roll in both Saint Benedict and the gym.
“I think my favorite part was filming B-roll,” Ramos said. “I get nervous on camera, so knowing that the B-roll wouldn’t include my voice was really helpful. For B-rolls, my volleyball team assisted me during practice and my coach also featured. I also did a scene in Dr. Harvey’s office that should play over the lines about how my professors support me during season.”
Ramos was grateful to have had this experience overall.
“I’ve never been interviewed or filmed for anything so I’m thankful for The College Tour team for making me comfortable and reassuring me when I made mistakes,” she said.
Collins, like Ramos, enjoyed the process.
“My favorite part was just seeing the step-by-step behind the scenes process of how this show comes to life,” Collins said. “It was definitely a unique opportunity that doesn’t come around all that often, so I was very fortunate to have gotten the chance to be involved.”
SVC on The College Tour will be streaming on Prime Video in December 2023. Be sure to tune in and experience the school in a whole new way!